ALTON — After continued negotiations Monday night and Tuesday during the regularly scheduled Alton School Board meeting, the district and the Alton Education Association have reached a “tentative agreement.”

The agreement will be voted on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at North Elementary School.

“After meeting with IEA (Illinois Education Association) leadership and at the advice of the federal mediator, the PN (professional negotiating) team decided to make a proposal showing good faith bargaining in the hopes of reaching a satisfactory settlement for all of our members and avoiding a costly strike,” the AEA said in a Facebook post Tuesday night.

Prior rounds of negotiations began Monday, April 16. The district and the AEA negotiated for a few hours before deciding to continue negotiations on Tuesday, where Alton Superintendent Mark Cappel brought the AEA’s proposal to the board and reach a tentative agreement.

“I met with the board last night to get a yes or no on the proposal and they agreed to it,” said Cappel. “I met with Mr. Chapman this morning (Wednesday) and we both signed off on it as a tentative agreement.”

The AEA came to the Board Monday night with an offer of $500 added to each cell plus a step movement for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years for certified staff, which is a $100 increase from the district’s previous offer; and $0.50 per hour/per cell with no step movement for each non-certified employees for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, which is a $0.05 increase from the district’s previous offer.

“The current offer from the Alton School Board is a step in the right direction,” said AEA professional negotiating chair Jason Chapman. “This offer will help the AEA continue to provide an excellent education to all students in the district as well as provide all of our members with a long awaited salary increase.”

While both sides are hopeful the AEA will vote for the proposal, if it is again voted down, a strike would be the next step. The earliest day the group could strike would be April 25.

“I’m encouraged that this was the association’s offer that we accepted,” said Cappel. “Whereas last time, it was our offer that was rejected.”

Previous offers have been “overwhelmingly” voted down by the Alton Education Association. The most recent was rejected by 68 percent of AEA members in attendance at a March 22 meeting. That offer included a $400 raise plus a step movement for certified staff, and a $0.40 per hour raise for non-certified staff.

After that contract was rejected, Cappel expressed concern about the district’s finances if they pushed the numbers higher.

“We were already preparing to make budget reductions for the 2018-19 school year that are concerning and will significantly impact areas including administration, instruction and program services,” Cappel said in a news release on March 23. The release noted Cappel was “disappointed the contract was rejected because the district is already planning to make significant cuts in order to generate enough revenue to cover the proposed salary increases.”

The AEA and the Alton School District previously posted their final offers on the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board website last Thursday, which was the next step in contract negotiations. However, if the newest offer is voted against, they will not have to go through the posting process again.

Chapman said the current offer would not have been possible “without the unity of our members and the support of the community. We thank them all and we are hopeful the AEA membership will approve this proposal, so we can get back to focusing on what we do best; educate our students.”

In regards to graduating seniors, Chapman said he hopes it doesn’t come to that, but he believes “that if we were to strike before the school year is up and then came to an agreement afterwards, we would have to negotiate any make-up days.”

Cappel stated that if the offer is voted for, teachers and staff will receive a check for retro-pay in mid May.

“I think both sides are feeling pretty confident that the teachers and staff overall will be pleased with this agreement.

“I am hopeful,” said Cappel. “Last time we didn’t have a tentative agreement, but it does still come down to the vote.”